Overrated. Nothing special.

Rating: 1/10 (18 May 2007)

I remember when "28 Days Later" was in theaters. After about a month or so, the television ads were up to a full minute to a minute and a half long. They were packed with sterling reviews, thrilling speedy zombie cut scenes, and the promise of three possible endings! A few friends of mine went to see the movie five times so that they could see all three. They weren't the only ones. A ton of my friends were quick to say things like, "You, of all people, will love this movie!" Hype hype hype. If there is one thing I can't friggin' stand is every one and their grandmother telling me I have to see one particular movie. Given, hyped movies are either good or are ruined by the hype and that ratio is hovering around 50%. However, this movie falls into the latter. It wasn't the worst movie ever (close, but at least it had a budget), though right from the start I had issues. Now, I'm down with the idea that some hippie, animal liberation bozos would end up destroying society, but the whole first scene was weak. The movie started becoming promising only to rot away and FAST! I don't know, I personally don't see how this movie is any different than "Dawn of the Dead" other than the fact that "DotD" was a criticism on consumerism and "28 Days" was a commentary on...sex? "Soldiers are horny" seems to be this movie's overall message. Was the ending supposed to reflect something else, because any and all attempts to convince me otherwise have Stretch Armstrong shaking his head. I've been reading the glowing comments of this movie, and also shaking mine. I've read that it plainly deals with the hopelessness of the situation...as if "DotD" or even "Return of the Living Dead" didn't. There's nothing particularly special about this movie. And talking about "Return," I think it's bull to declae "28 Days" as the introduction of the "Fast Zombie." There were plenty of zombies running around in "Return of the Living Dead" and "RotLD Part 2." How about the scene when all the zombies bum rush the cops? There are two separate scenes of zombies bum rushing the cops in "RotLD," and another one when they take out the paramedics! So what, we should give credit to "28 Days" because some of the zombies were superhumanly fast? We should give it full marks for making them faster? Please. Also, I've read that the movie's landmark because it doesn't rely on violence. Instead it relies on changing a tire really really quickly so the stampeding herd of zombies don't infect you. Come on! This is supposed to be tension? It was like watching NASCAR! Oh, and how about calling the disease "rage?" How friggin' hokey can you get? Oh, and only one of the possible three endings was decent. There was certainly a reason why the other two weren't in the original final cut.
I will say that the sequel looks interesting, not that I'm going to pay theater prices to see it, but I will definitely give it a try on DVD. As for the predecessor, I'll just leave it for the monkeys.